A journey towards excellence for Christ

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Editor’s Note: Our weekly guest spot is our effort to help our reading community connect with each other. Abigail’s journey in learning to hold the line of doing right without feeling the weight of condemnation is one we all face. His gift of dying for us gives us the ability to walk with newness of life in Him. To live this life joyfully freed from sin. ~Rebekah M.

The Christian life is often one big balancing exercise. Balancing love with speaking the truth. Balancing
dwelling on heaven with using our time here on earth wisely. Balancing not worrying about what people
think with showing deference. Today I’d like to share what I’m learning about accepting and embracing
conviction without getting out of balance and feeling condemned.

In recent months, I’ve come to recognize more clearly the important distinction between conviction
and condemnation. Reading the Word and being convicted by its truth is a healthy, biblical response.
Feeling condemned for my failures is not. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1) Seeking the Lord to help my heart find that balance has been growing me by
leaps and bounds.

Living under a sense of condemnation is wrong and steals the joy Jesus wants me to experiencein knowing Him. I’ve been there. Just look at what Jesus has done for me!

Titus 3:4 “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because
of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing
of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus
Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs havingthe hope of eternal life.”

Equally dangerous, ignoring biblical conviction and being content to live a neutral life,unconcerned when I give in to my flesh, also robs me of that beautiful joy. I’ve been there, too.

John 15:10-11 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy
may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

While being mindful of my immovable salvation in Christ and the righteousness He has permanently
imparted to me, I am commanded to walk in obedience to Jesus each day, empowered by His Holy Spirit
within me. God says that if I am in Him, my behavior should reflect His perfection.

1 Peter 1:14-15 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former
ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

To put it simply, by His grace, I am being daily transformed into who I already am in Christ. Only my
Savior can show me how to walk this tightrope, and when He does, my heart cannot help but rejoice in
His grace and sing of His goodness! The incredible freedom of no condemnation only encourages me
all the more to shine for Jesus in my conduct. It is an exciting thing when I can look at my life and see
tangible fruit clearly proving that He has declared me righteous before God, while fully understanding that
as His child, what I do can never change His love for me. The fruit is not what makes me righteous;rather, it is the evidence of what Jesus Christ has already done on my behalf. 1 John drives home
the importance of this evidence over and over; I’ve picked just a few favorite passages.

1 John 2:28-29 “And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have
confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at his coming. If you know that He is righteous,you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.”

1 John 3:4-10 “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is
lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no
sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning haseither seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoeverpracticesrighteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the
devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, forGod’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born ofGod. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his
brother.”

1 John 3:23 “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

In conclusion: Jesus has been showing me firsthand the unmatched joy that can be mine when I live a life of passionate obedience, free from condemnation and guilt. I am in awe of what He has done for me and so thrilled with the privilege of living my life for His glory! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

A young wife saved by grace and anchored in Jesus Christ, Abigail loves sharing what God is teaching her as she seeks to follow Him in her various roles. Her next adventure will be following her husband to California in August, where he will attend The Master’s Seminary. You can follow the joys and jolts of their journey here: www.OurSureAnchor.com

Published by permission of the author. Submit your own post at beingrebekah@outlook.com.

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I do not think it is possible to move much through out a day without being convicted, but as maturity gains we see that same conviction, as you have said, not as a condemnation, but rather as an admonition to move forward and lose self entirely. Great post.